Cigarette lifting means for cigarette packs



Sept. 29, 1936. H. ,1. GEARINl CIGARETTE LIFTING MEANS P-OR ACIGARETTE PACKS original Filed 'May 1-, 193,4

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 29, 1936. H. J. GEARIN A 2,055,739

- CIGARETTE LIFTING 4MEANS FOR CIGARETTE PACKS original' Filed May 1 1934 2 sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. i936 I .UNITED STATES.

'..PATENT ori-ica March s, 193s 1 (c1, zoe-se) In opening a cigarette package considerable difficulty is usually experienced in'lifting 'out the first cigarettes. This is due to thetightness of the pack, and frequently the first cigarettes with- 5 drawn becomemore or less mutilated.

The object of my invention is to accomplish the` removal of the flrst cigarettes by lifting them' y above the rest in the pack, by the aid of a ilexi.-

` ble strip of material of suitable tensile strength; l0 the strip being arranged within the package so as to extend under the cigarettes adjacent one wall of the pack with Yone end of 'thestripdis posed between'the cigarettes `and a wall of the' pack-wrapping so `that when a portion of the. top

A of the wrapping has been broken away, the end of the strip may be readily seized,' an`d, by 'being pulled up, will lift some of the cigarettes above the remainderof the pack. so that tl'1e`.lifted cigarettes may be readily removed.

.By the term .pack-wrapping is to be under-fv stood the tinfoil, plain paper and waxed paper or cellophane, or similar materials, with. which itv is customary to enclose or. wrap a group or pack of cigarettes to form a cigarette package.

g5 'I'he strip, in one embodiment of my inyention, l

may be secured in place within the package with one end oi' said strip extending under the bottom of the cigarettes and thence up between the cigaettes and a.wall of\ the pack-wrapping, said so end, when released, being adapted to'be extended a substantial distance above the top of the pack.

' 'Ihus when the top of the. pack-wrapping is broken away, this strip-end may be readily seized 'and pulled up, thus lifting some of the cigarettes 85 lfrom the pack, as mentioned. A In another embodiment of my' invention, the

lifting strip is arranged to encompass both lateral sides and the bottom ofthe pack and the ends of the strip are doubled over on themselves under 40 the top of the pack-wrapping, each end of-the strip being vheld in place by the pressure of the top of the pack-wrapping against the tops of'the cigarettes. and when so arranged either sideof the top of the pack-wrapping may be'tor'n away 46 and the end of the strip there located released and operated for removing cigarettes, as4`1nenv tioned.

In still another embodiment of my invention,

lifting strips are fastened to inside end folds.

50 ofthe bottom of the pack-wrapping and extend up between the' inside of the corresponding end.- w'all and the cigarettes to the top of the (pack. l Withprrangement of the lifting strips, it is" possible to have interior pack-wrapper and liftl ing stripsmade all in one piece. aslater explained,

offering simplicity and economy in construction, i The details. of my invention arehereinafter fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

. Fig. 1 is a perspective drawing of an ordinary i cigarette package with the' pack-wrapping closed;

Fig. 2 shows asimilar perspective view with a portion of tl'iev top of the wrapper torn away so as to release one end of the lifting strip, sothat such end may be seized -and operated as men- 10 Ationed; y

Fig'. l 3 shows a vertical .diagrammatic longitudinal section of a lifting L strip"encompassing both lateral .sides of the pack with the ends of the -strip held in place by thepressure of the top of 15 4 the packagainst the top .of the pack-wrapping;

` Fig. #i shows diagrammatically one modification in fthe arrangement of the lifting strip, with one endof the lifting strip, secured in y,place at one lateral side of the pack and the other end of the 20 strip arranged simiiarlyias illustrated by Figs.,2

Fig. 5 shows-a'per'spective detail of the lifting strip', one end thereof being folded so to. be

broken line as extended for seizing and pulling up, and a broken line indicating where the strip would belcut if it i's to be arrangedV asiilustrated in Ii'ig. 4; A

Fig. 6 is a perspective diagram of alcigarette package, similar to Fig. 2, and illustrates a possible modification of my invention.' As here illus'- trated, I employ two lifting strips, which, as shown by Vbroken lines, are' fastened to the folded 35 in ends of the interior wrapping at the bottom of the pack, one of the strip ends being shown as extending above the torn away top of the pack;

' Fig.' 'I is a fragmentary drawing of-a portion of the cigarette package shown in Fig. 6 with the 40- freed end of the lifting strip shown pulled up and the adjacent cigarettes lifted above the others 1 in the pack;

Fig. 8 shows the pack-wrapplns and lifting 'strips of Fig. 6, with the wrapping unfolded and 45 ping b has two broad, longitudinal flaps c and c' vc55 l and two narrow end flaps o and o' at the bottom.

l strip are lifted sufficiently above the others in the The lifting strips d or d' (Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5) are located insidethe pack-wrappingb adjacent to the sides and bottom of the pack of cigarettes.

One embodiment of my invention is 4shown in Fig. 4 Where one end of the lifting strip d is secured to the inside of the side of the pack-Wranping b at e. The other end f of the lifting strip leads up to the top o f the other side of the pack and is folded down upon itself. When the portion of the top of the pack-wrapping above the end f of the lifting strip is torn away, the said end f can easily be seized and pulled up, and in this way the cigarettes adjacent to the lifting pack so that they canl easily be pulled out.

Figs. 3 and 5 illustrate another embodiment of my invention in which either end of the lifting strip may be pulled out. In \these figures both the ends g and a' ofthe lifting strip d' extend around to the top of the pack and are folded downupon themselves. When one side of the top ofthe pack-wrapping is torn away, as at h in Fig. 2, andthe corresponding end g of the lifting strip d' is pulled up, the other end g' of the lifting strip d', which remains folded down upon itself, will be held in place between the tops of the cigarettes and the other side oi the top of the pack-wrapping. Thus with this arrangement it is immaterial which side of the top of the cigarette packageis opened first.

In Fig. 6 the lifting strips e and e' are fastened to the bottom sides of the narrow end folds o and o', respectively, of the bottom of the pack-wrapf ping. In this construction of my invention itis necessary that the folds at the bottom of the pack-wrapping be so arranged that the narrow end folds o and o are on top, that is next to the inside of the pack, andthe broad, longitudinal folds or aps k and k placed `below or outside of these. It can be readily seen that the pulling up of the lifting strips e or e will pull up the narrow folds o or`0' to which thelifting strips are attached and raise the adjacent cigarettes. 'I'he narrow folds o and o' in a way act as leversv-in aiding in the raising of the cigarettes and limit the extent to which the lifting strips can bepulled up.l Fig. V'l shows the lifting strip e pulled up and the adjacent cigarettes raised above the others in the pack as a result.

In Fig. 8 the pack-wrapping b has been unfolded and opened up. 'Ihe front face of the wrapping of the pack shown in Fig. 6 and the adjacent upper and lower broad longitudinal folds or flaps c and k have been divided. c' and lc denote the other broad, longitudinal folds at top and bottom respectively, and the narrow end folds of Y the pack-wrapping are shown by n and n at the .top and o and o at the bottom. The lifting strips e and e are attached to the under or bottom sides of the folds o and o", see Fig. 8a. These strips are then bent up at the lines pand p and then bent in at the lines q and q' to cause the strip to remain adjacent the inside surfaces of the folds o and o and the end faces of the pack-wrapping.

The lifting strips in Fig. 8 are separate pieces of material attached to the under side of the folds o and o', as mentioned. 'H0wever, it is not necessary for the lifting strips to be made of separate pieces in this way and attached to the pack-wrapping, for pack-wrapping and lifting strips can be cut from the same sheet with one operation and the lifting strips made integral with the pack-wrapping. This is illustrated in Fig. 9 which shows, on a reduced scale, the packwrapping b' and lifting strips f and f cut from a sheet and ready for folding on the dotted lines. The possibility of thisone-piece construction of my invention I consider as one of its most valu able features, because it is obvious that only a very simple and inexpensive manufacturing operation is required for its adoption.

I claim:

In a cigarette package comprising a box-like wrapping formed of a sheet having its upper and lower portions folded over the top and the bottom of the pack of cigarettes, Vcigarette lifting means consisting of a strip of exible material connected to a bottom fold of the wrapping at one wall and thence folded back up and over said fold and under the adjacent cigarettes seated thereon, and thence extended up between said wall and adjacent cigarettes, the upper end of said strip constituting a foldablevtab adapted to be seized for pulling up the strip, whereby to lift the foldportion of the wrapping to which it is attached,

' and` thus cause the cigarettes seated on such fold portion to be projected above the top of the pack.

HAROLD J. GEARIN. 

